Dustin Ramoie went hunting with his dad for the first time when he was 4 years old in the wooded waters of northern Michigan.

What he remembers most wasn’t flushing out the birds or hearing the blast from a 12-gauge. It was the candy bars and grape soda his dad always bought him for the adventure.

“He just made it fun,” said Ramoie, a 28-year-old planner for the City of Helena.

It’s a little different today as Ramoie loads up his 10-dozen decoys and heads for a secret field, where he hopes to shoot a limit of geese in record time. The last thing on Ramoie’s mind when he goes hunting these days is snacks.

Anymore, it’s all about the birds.

An avid bird hunter, Ramoie says his love for the sport has progressively grown each year. He attributes much of his outdoors appetite to his trips with his father when he was little.

Not all young people begin hunting before they lose their first tooth. In fact, many families decide to wait until children have completed hunter’s safety and are of legal age to shoot an animal.

“I tried to make it available, without pushing them,” said Dave Beach, a Helena father of three daughters, who each began hunting around age 12. “We like to spend time together, and they know I like to hunt.”

Beach admits there have been times he wasn’t very smart about taking his girls out in the elements. He recalled one trip in particular, when one of his daughters got snow in her boot and ending up cold and crying.

“I took them out in some pretty nasty stuff,” he said. “I carried her to the truck to thaw.”

Beach said the key to making it enjoyable for young people is not to be a die-hard about sticking it out if the weather is bad or the wildlife is scarce. He also suggested spending time getting kids used to shooting a gun so they know what to expect.

Not only does it acclimate them to the noise and kick, he said, but it increases their accuracy.

“Then they are comfortable in a hunting situation,” Beach said.

Bob Reed grew up hunting around Helena, but quit about eight years ago because he said the mountains got too crowded.

Two years ago, however, he returned to the hunting world, spurred by the interest of his two sons, Matthew, 14 and Ryan 12.

“We’ve always talked about it, and they wanted to get out and experience it,” Reed said.

This year, Ryan bagged an elk and a deer. His brother, Matthew, grew comfortable handling a firearm because of the education he learned from the hunter’s education, as well as his dad.

Ron Aasheim, communication and education division administrator with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said deciding when a child is ready should be determined on an individual basis.

“They develop at different ages,” he said.

Being emotionally ready is just as important as being physically ready, and Aasheim said what you don’t want to happen is to get them out in bad conditions or wear them out so they have a bad experience early on.

“Success could be a day in the field with Mom or Dad or it can mean getting their first animal, fish or bird,” he said.

With so many options in activities for young people these days, FWP recognizes they must work hard to reduce barriers.

Upon completing hunter’s education, first-time hunters get their license for free and for hunters between the ages of 12 and 14 get deer and elk licenses at half price. There is also a youth waterfowl and pheasant season that precedes the general season in September, although adult supervision is required.

Aasheim said for his family hunting opened up the conversation between parents and children.

“You talk about things when you are hunting together that we don’t talk about otherwise,” he said. “I have great memories of sitting on a hillside eating a sandwich. It’s a special way of life we have here in Montana. It’s a real unique opportunity that Montana youngsters have to experience what Montana has to offer.”

Ramoie says someday when he has children of his own, he’ll do just as his own father did taking them out in the great outdoors sharing some special snacks, talking about respect of wildlife, and safety with firearms.

They may even get to wear a special kids hunting vest with loops to carry the shells just like he wore more than two decades ago.

Reporter Alana Listoe: alana.listoe@helenair.com or 447-4081